Breathing in the Light

A complete modern tutorial for the ancient meditation technique, “The Secret Of The Golden Flower, A Chinese Book Of Life”

“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.” — Victor Hugo

“The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is because man is disunited with himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I first came upon the meditation technique known as The Secret of the Golden Flower in my research of Carl Jung and his theories on alchemy. Jung wrote the initial commentary to the German translation published in 1931. The translation was dense, and the commentary was theoretical. I set about trying to put its terms into a methodology I personally could try and practice.

By no means am I adept at meditation. Over the years, I have tried it on and off with discouraging results. Nevertheless, I was intrigued with Jung’s views, so I put together a distillation of it and started to do it. At first, it was slow going—fits and starts, like those early times on a bicycle.

After only a few mornings of practicing The Secret of the Golden Flower, however, I began to experience change. My brow was not continually furrowed by tension or thought. I felt comfortable with myself.

My physiology changed. My blood pressure dropped. I slept through the night. I was no longer hungry all the time. I started eating better. I was motivated to be more physically active.

Within a few weeks, my sense of goodwill improved. I was less blue. I became more optimistic. I saw troubles as challenges to overcome, not worries to fear. It seemed, for the first time, that all the aspects of my warring parts — my body, mind, heart, spirit — were communicating, watching out for one another, finding a new balance in wholesome consciousness, working as one. It is the best aspect of The Secret of the Golden Flower: every part of yourself starts to get along.